Ari is reaching out showing his appreciation for KZSC‘s support on his latest release. The chorus sings, “meet me up at porter//i know u wanna get away yeah//19, i know u ride the 19//u sittin’ right by me, but you wont even look at me,” and it really makes you feel what he is describing. You can read the lyrics of the song on the Somewhere to Hide website.

UC Santa Cruz student Mikey Solomon described his experience listening to the new song, “He captures a lot of moments and experiences here in a really penetrating/melancholic way that’s just beautiful.” Ari Solus really created something special here with the feeling and emotion of the music in conjunction with the lyrics. You can download all of Ari’s releases on his bandcamp.

Millennials everywhere, beware! The word “epic” has finally found its rightful place in the modern world and it has little to do with your festival experience or favorite burrito joint. Kamasi Washington Dectet, a tight-knit jazz regiment headed by the masterful composer and saxophonist best known for his work with Kendrick Lamar and Flying Lotus, dropped their 3-disc debut The Epic (Brainfeeder Records, 2015) this Tuesday, a timely release just under two months after To Pimp a Butterfly (Interscope Records, 2015) took music media by a storm and brought jazz back into the limelight. Washington has been in the touring game since college (to wit: Snoop Dogg, Lauryn Hill, Raphael Saadiq, Chaka Khan), and spent much of his time back home in LA recording with ten collaborators, and with Flying Lotus’ help would record 190 songs in one month in 2011. Kamasi and his cohorts go way back, but the dectet is looking forward, combining their influences and training to put jazz on the radar for listeners across the board. Four years after the Kamasi Washington Dectet’s Silver Lake recording marathon, a short list of 17 tracks spanning three hours would be compiled and released as one of the most ambitious, genre-spanning debuts to be made this century. The music is free-flowing, expressive, evocative of jazz godheads like Trane and Sun Ra but transcending classic quotations for something near surreal — it’s skyward-looking music, it’s beyond what is now. And that, friends, is EPIC.

In a journey that began with selling their CDs on street corners, to becoming the most popular band in Niger, now Tal National is promoting their new album Zoy Zoy and on tour, playing Moe’s Alley May 5th.

Tal National’s members represent the different cultural groups of Niger. Their music is a mix of traditional and originals, with a rhythmic complexity that separate them from their Afrobeat contemporaries of neighboring Nigeria. The album Zoy Zoy was recorded in Niamey, Niger’s capital, using a remote recording rig in a dusty makeshift studio. Despite this or perhaps because of it, Tal National thrives in a country parched of resources but teeming with music and rhythm!

If you want to enjoy the high energy of a live performance by this Nigerien group, check them out at Moe’s Alley on Tuesday!

Harvest of the fruits of a new fall here at KZSC. World is starting off the quarter with an interview of artist Simrit Kaur!

Simrit , with her unique touch to devotional chant music, will be performing at the Santa Cruz Pacific Cultural Center on Friday, October 24th at 7:30pm. She also has a new album out soon! This album features a song with lead singer of the Go-Gos, Belinda Carlisle.

You can hear Simrit speak on music and her new album on Cross Stitch this Monday, at it’s new time slot, noon to 2pm.

Here is the song Mul Mantra, from her new album Simrit , so you can have a listen!

https://www.kzsc.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/SIMRIT_cover-300x300.jpg300300World Music Directorhttps://www.kzsc.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/kzsc-300x123.pngWorld Music Director2014-10-17 21:52:362014-10-18 15:23:13Simrit Kaur at the Pacific Cultural Center

Perfect Pussy’s full-length first album, Say Yes to Love is a fantastic showcase of the unique, unclassifiable sound that the band has to offer. After the band’s debut EP last year, several people got excited about the band’s future. And after almost a year of waiting, I don’t think fans will be disappointed. The overall sound can be summed up as a masterfully crafted wall of noise. Guitars mimic the shoegaze bands like Loop and My Bloody Valentine; the drums add a very upbeat, thrashy element to the music. Then there are the vocals-barely coherent from all the feedback added-which are inspired. I think there are some really well orchestrated tracks on the album, but the feedback that dominates over the other instruments gets in the way of the instrumentation on some tracks. The best description of Perfect Pussy’s sound would be “thrash-gaze”; very easy to visualize a mosh pit forming in front of the band at a concert while Perfect Pussy plays their emotionally driven noise. It’s as if D.N.A and Deafheaven got together to record but had really low quality microphones. The album isn’t perfect, but it still leaves you wanting more. After Say Yes to Love, I join the other very curious fans to hear how (and if) the band progresses in sound.